5915 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

And Oak Bay.

 

Well yes, I guess that's the other easy one too carve off. 

 

But, View Royal, it's too easy.  North of the TCH goes to Saanich, east of the Colwood strip goes to Esquimalt, and the Strip part goes to Colwood.  So easy!  And nobody would notice.

[Nparker]

...But, View Royal, it's too easy.  North of the TCH goes to Saanich, east of the Colwood strip goes to Esquimalt, and the Strip part goes to Colwood.  So easy!  And nobody would notice.

Oh I agree. But when it comes to useless municipalities does anything in the CRD beat the Highlands?

[rjag]

Well yes, I guess that's the other easy one too carve off. 

 

But, View Royal, it's too easy.  North of the TCH goes to Saanich, east of the Colwood strip goes to Esquimalt, and the Strip part goes to Colwood.  So easy!  And nobody would notice.

 

Exactly, except Mayor Screech....

 

 

Oh I agree. But when it comes to useless municipalities does anything in the CRD beat the Highlands?

 

Oh come on! that's ground zero for tree huggers and compostable toilets....

Edited by rjag, 18 April 2018 - 03:25 PM.

[John M.]

And Oak Bay.

Regardless of your opinion on amalgamation, at least Oak Bay is a cohesive, identifiable community of residents. View Royal is literally just a space filler. 

[rjag]

Regardless of your opinion on amalgamation, at least Oak Bay is a cohesive, identifiable community of residents. View Royal is literally just a space filler.

So true

[Kungsberg]

6 months to go until the municipal elections.

Who has declared as running in Victoria, as councillor or for mayor, besides Lisa Helps?

[Nparker]

...Who has declared as running in Victoria...for mayor, besides Lisa Helps?

Alas, no one. 

[VicHockeyFan]

A clown.

[Nparker]

A clown.

No besides Lisa Helps. 

[rsnxmt]

That's essentially why VV was started back in 2006. We exposed the two-faced nature of development in Victoria and put pressure on civic officials to look beyond self-centred NIMBY concerns of various organized groups and stakeholders.

 

A lot of the development trends that we're seeing today are tied to the efforts early VV'ers put towards changing Victoria's development climate.

 

 

how did VV expose the two-faced nature of development? What do you mean by this? Is this summarized somewhere? I'm just curious. How could an online forum create political leverage and have an effect on development decisions?

 

There's a ton of historical discussion in the forums that is quite daunting and a challenge to follow through especially for new members

[Rob Randall]

How could an online forum create political leverage and have an effect on development decisions?

 

Our statements made it easier for Councillors to speak out in defense of urbanism.

 

It's a lot easier for a politically vulnerable person to speak in favour of a project by saying they agree with the thoughts of another person than to be out on a limb all by yourself.

[On the Level]

Unfortunately his residents are held captive by the traffic running through their municipality. It's a silly game.

 

 

It's silly having goofy little municipalities like View Royal!  It should be carved up and alloted along easy-to-see lines of Saanich, Esquimalt and Colwood.

 

 

And Oak Bay.

While I agree the babbling brook rock art wall for the Island Highway was the art of nuttiness, and thank god Screech didn't extend the bizarreness to a regional transit system, Victoria doesn't exactly have much of a say when it comes to population....i.e. votes if these municipalities "go away".  Victoria voters will "go away" if Amalgamation is successful.

[sdwright.vic]

^huh?

[Mike K.]

how did VV expose the two-faced nature of development? What do you mean by this? Is this summarized somewhere? I'm just curious. How could an online forum create political leverage and have an effect on development decisions?

There's a ton of historical discussion in the forums that is quite daunting and a challenge to follow through especially for new members

By writing about it on this forum and providing the public with a different version of events than the one presented by the established media.

We showed there was no controversy where the media said there was and we took our fight directly to City Hall, we wrote letters to council, we bridged the gap between proposals and residents. Without a filter that is media and without the media perpetuating the opinions of councillors with a bias towards development the public very quickly realized what they were being presented in regards to development was oftentimes manipulated information.

Take what happened in the run-up to the 200 Cook project. The campign of misinformation was extreme. If you have the time you can read through that thread and you’ll see how it all played out.

[Nparker]

By writing about it on this forum and providing the public with a different version of events than the one presented by the established media...

But there is still more work to be done. The "too tall" fear remains among far too many citizens (and more alarmingly, city councilors). "Unique" is still bandied about as though Victoria was the only unique city on the planet. The "hundreds of empty condos must exist because they aren't ablaze with light in the evenings" fallacy even gets brought up on this forum and NIMBYism continues to override rationality when it comes to almost every development proposal. I think VV is as important in 2018 as it ever was.

[sdwright.vic]

I am so tired of the "we live in an earthquake zone, blah blah".

So does Seattle, all the way down to San Diego. Guess what? Tall buildings for many years and earthquakes. Building are built for them now. It's not like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake anymore.

[Nparker]

I am so tired of the "we live in an earthquake zone, blah blah"...

The worst part about this argument is that the tall buildings (by local standards) being constructed today are far more likely to withstand an earthquake than many of the short heritage structures.

[sebberry]

Mayor Helps was on the radio with Mark Brennae on Wednesday.  A caller (actually, I think an emailer) made mention of the poor quality of the street lines (again) and Lisa responded with "send an email to our engineering department with the details of the location of where you feel the lines are bad".

 

So that reminded me to email her. 

 

I politely stated that the road markings all around town are an issue at night in the rain.  I politely reminded her that she's mentioned a few times on CFAX that she'll check with the engineering department and report back on a future show and that that's never happened.  I made mention of the fact that the City has made efforts to make things safer for vulnerable road users, but the deteriorating road conditions are making things more dangerous.  I also suggested that if they can't repaint all the lines, that at he very least markings within 50' of intersections should be upgraded. 

 

I got a response back thanking me for my comments and she CC'd the Assistant Director of Engineering. 

 

I responded again suggesting that I thought this issue was a council matter, not a engineering one.  I commended council for all the development that's occurred in the last 10 years but has severely impacted the quality of our road markings and driving surface.  I stated that I don't care about the bike lanes, but the complete lack of attention given to safe, comfortable automobile infrastructure has made getting around by car more dangerous. 

 

Her response:  "Thanks for sharing your perspective"

 

 

Now there's a mayor who cares about her residents...

[sebberry]

I am so tired of the "we live in an earthquake zone, blah blah".

So does Seattle, all the way down to San Diego. Guess what? Tall buildings for many years and earthquakes. Building are built for them now. It's not like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake anymore.

 

I just hope Gary H is OK in the megathrust.  We need someone to monitor whether the bridge holds up. 

[Mike K.]

Right, the road issue has been brought up numerous times with the mayor.

Our roads have deteriorated like never before. I do think the rise in heavy truck traffic coming and going from construction sites is a big part of the problem, but for gosh sakes, surely the amount of money entering into the equation should be more than enough to keep our roads maintained to a better standard.